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Monday, November 21, 2011

Flannel Floral Folkart Quilt

As a new quilter, I had no idea that flannel was more difficult to work with in a quilt than plain old cotton fabric. It's bulkier, less stable and it tends to shift, so piecing can be challenging, I did have the sense to pre-shrink the fabric though!
After several visits to one of my favorite local quilt shops Sew What's New in Islip, NY (pssssst...they are usually open on Sundays!) I had to buy some of the floral flannel fabrics that had been catching my eye. I bought a quarter yard of some of them, and about a yard of the main print, which was about four vertical rows of 2 1/2" floral stripes with large motifs lined up between those rows, a couple of coordinating solids, and a coordinating mini print that looked like mini 1" log cabins. Now, what do do with it!
I am not exaggerating when I say that I poured over patterns for MONTHS, maybe even YEARS before I came upon a book that seemed to help...Two-Block Theme Quilts by Claudia Olsen. This book had many ideas, and with a little adjustment and creativity, I was able to come up with a plan for a quilt that not only showcased the large flannel motifs, but also had some fun and movement in it. As you can see by the small quilt (crib size), the small amounts of fabric I had purchased required coing some of the star blocks in red, and some of them in blue.
To finish the quilt, I added a lime green border and stippled the whole quilt. It is technically a UFO, since it hasn't had it's binding added yet (it will be yellow) but I'm pleased with the results. One word of warning...a flannel quilt backed in flannel and filled with cotton batting weighs a TON!
Have you worked with flannel in your quilts? Was it what you expected? I'd love to hear about it!

3 comments:

Ha! I unknowingly made my first baby sized quilt in flannel. I fell in love with a white ducky print that I needed to have. It was so hard, I've worked with flannel since, but sparingly. The one thing I will probably never work with again is chenille and minky type products. The little bits get everywhere and drove me crazy. I had to clean my machine constantly. I lived in Levittown for many years growing up and still have a brother in Wading River. It was neat to see Islip mentioned, although I did not sew at that time.